


Queen's Court

by Jetstorm



Series: Adora/Despara [1]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: AU, Gen, Imprisonment, Mindwiping, Miscommunication
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 19,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24391927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jetstorm/pseuds/Jetstorm
Summary: After Glimmer hides Adora in her bedroom to prepare a surprise for her mother, Queen Angella, Adora sneeks out to explore the surrounding area to disastrous consequencesHow far will a desperate leader go to keep what is theirs?
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Adora/Despara [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1789339
Comments: 13
Kudos: 73





	1. Captured

**Author's Note:**

> Think of this at the beginning as an AU to the episode Razz, where Adora doesn't manage to escape the baying mob at the refugee camp and is brought before Queen Angella not as She-Ra but as a Horde soldier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alicorn is a winged unicorn

Adora had grown bored with waiting for Glimmer to return and decided she would explore the area around Bright Moon Castle, unlike the Fright Zone where she grew up, it was an area of great natural beauty. Adora had covered her shirt with a wrap after Glimmer had taken her Force Captain jacket to hide the Horde insignia on her lapel, she practiced turning into She-Ra by lifting up the Sword of Protection and calling out in various tones "FOR THE HONOUR OF GRAYSKULL" to little or no real affect. She tried this several times with growing frustration until a beam of light shot out from the sword and hit a nearby horse turning it into a winged unicorn. Adora tried to calm the horse, "hey there, horsey, it's going to be alright", but the transformed horse had looked at what had happened to it and bolted off in panic, Adora chased after it shouting "come back, horsey". The panicking equine ran into a refugee camp for those escaping the Horde's onslaught knocking over different items and eventually taken to flight still in panic, Adora was still chasing after it crying out "HORSEY" as it awkwardly took to the air. The flapping wings of the unicorn were powerful enough to cause great gusts of wind that eventually caused the wrap that Adora had on her to blow off revealing the large insignia on her back. As the alicorn flew off in the distance, Adora could feel the atmosphere around her darkening as the refugees started to gather round looking at the insignia on her back, the murmuring started to pace until a Moon Guard bellowed out "HORDE SOLDIER" and drew out her sword and started attacking Adora. Adora tried to plead with the attacking soldier "stop, I'm not with the Horde" to no avail as she had to use her own sword to fend off the incensed trooper, a red horned humanoid male charged at Adora, but she was able to move out of the way and he ran into a stack of barrels. Adora decided to run away from the baying mob that had the trooper leading them, she eventually came to a small ravine with a stream, but she lost her footing and fell in, she hit her head leaving her in a semi conscious stupor allowing the pursuing guard to easily capture her

"What is this big surprise I am supposed to be so impressed with?" said a slightly annoyed Queen Angella to her daughter, Glimmer meekly replied with a smile "you're gonna love it, mum, you'll see, Bow, can you go and see if the surprise is ready?". Bow replied "sure thing" and ran off to check on where they left Adora, he soon came back with a tight, but worried look on his face and pulled Glimmer off to the side, but before he could explain a pair of guards came up to the queen, "your majesty, a Horde spy was caught on the Bright Moon grounds, we're bringing her in", Angella heard the large gulp coming from Glimmer and turned to her and bellowed out each word deliberately "WHAT - DID - YOU - DO? ". Soon after, Adora was dragged before Angella with a guard addressing the queen "we caught this Horde spy, she was armed with this", the guard handed over Adora's sword to the queen, who took it and gasped "the Sword of Protection", she turned to Adora "where did you steal this from, creature?", Adora defiantly replied "I did not steal it, it called to me, and my name is Adora, bitch". That gained her a mighty backhand from the queen, Adora had not meant to call the queen a bitch, but being called a creature had somewhat caused her to lose her composure. "Call to you, why would such a sword call to a flithy beast like you?", Adora was about to angrily reply when Glimmer interrupted "mum, she used the sword to turn into She-Ra and she can read First Ones writing", Bow nervously nodded beside her. The queen cried out "WHAAAT?, guards, lock this animal in one of the cells while I talk with my daughter and Bow, Adora was dragged off to the cells while Angella talked with the guilty looking pair. The pair explained what happened the previous night, but the queen was not satisfied, "I want you both to place your hands on the Mind Projector, so that I can see your memories", soon after the projected memories confirmed their words, Adora becoming She-Ra, Adora being able to read First Ones writing, but most distrublingly of all, the rank insignia on Adora's jacket, that of a Force Captain, they had not only managed to capture a Horde spy, but a Horde leader

A guard came up to Angella and asked "your majesty, how can this be, how can a Horde leader be turned into the mighty She-Ra?" The queen who had seen the memories of her daughter and her friend was horrified at the very notion of such a being becoming the legendary warrior answered her servant "I do not know, but I want you to gather your fellow guards and other women of the kingdom and try each one of you to become She-Ra, for if a member of the Horde can be transformed then a righteous person should have no problem". The guard replied "your majesty, the memories showed that your daughter tried without success" to which Angella replied "my daughter she may be, but she is also immature and no trained warrior, so the transformation might not be possible for her because of that, now, please prepare the auditions". The guard went to obey her monarch's command and arranged the auditions, soon enough women from the kingdom gathered in Bright Moon Castle, each one in turn lifting up the magical sword and crying out "FOR THE HONOUR OF GRAYSKULL" to no avail. The cries from the women eventually became desperate and frustrated as they each failed to intiate a transfromation, the Queen called out "ENOUGH" to end the fruitless auditions and took the sword with her to the cells where Adora was being held. The nearer they came to Adora's cell, the more the sword glowed and vibrated, the queen knew what this meant, that sword now did belong to Adora, she simply said to her guards "take her out and prepare her"

Adora was marched to the chamber with the Mind Projector and had her body placed next to it, she saw Angella and quipped "I heard you had quite the day, going by the screaming I heard", referring to the screams of frustration from the women trying their luck to become She-Ra. Angella just looked at her and said "with this device you've been placed next to, we will see by your own memories what kind of creature you are and how you were able to corrupt the sword", Adora just laughed, but she also was panicking on the inside. The projector was turned on and the queen was able to see Adora's memories, of being brought up in the Horde from a baby taken by Hordak, of having Shadoweaver as a surrogate mother, of her intense training, of her indoctrination of the Horde doctrine, of her promotion to Force Captain. The images greatly angered Angella, she had always seen the Horde as bunch of faceless monsters who willingly committed attrocity after attrocity against the people of Etheria, but this was on a whole new level of evil, the brainwashing of children to believe that committing such crimes was for the common good. Angella had seen the horrors of the Horde for herself, the murder of her husband, King Micah, the slaughter of millions, the destruction of cities and the environment, the enslavement of thousands. The projector was on Adora for far longer than it was on Bow or Glimmer and was causing a large strain on her. She had seen enough of Adora's memories and called for the guards to take back a now semi conscious Adora back to her cell, but to make sure she was comfortable. Angella thought to herself, one way or another She-Ra would be with them and the Horde would lose a puppet


	2. Dire Need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angella enacts a desperate plan to recruit She-Ra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Queen Angella in this version is the same kindly, warm and serene person as in canon, but the war against the Horde was ground her down far more
> 
> Thank you for the Kudos

Angella had called for her daughter to join her in the throne room, she wanted to discuss a plan to recruit She-Ra into the ranks of the Rebellion. She knew her plan would mostly likely, no, it would shock her daughter as the plan she was formulating would be utterly sickening to the usually serene being under most normal circumstances, but this was not a normal circumstance, the kingdoms of Etheria were losing the war against the Horde, the alliance between the various princesses had fallen apart years beforehand with each princess only being concerned with her own domain. "Glimmer", she said to her daughter and continued "I have seen the Horde spy's memories and she is indeed as you say the being that the sword has chosen to be She-Ra and that leaves us with a problem", Glimmer, who along with Bow was sent away when Angella viewed Adora's memories with her elite guard asked "what sort of problem, mum?". Angella had a pained look on her face as she answered Glimmer "you know that she was brought up by the Horde?", Glimmer responded "yes, but I presumed that it meant she was recruited at a young age". Angella sighed "it's worse than that, she was taken by Hordak as a baby and given to Shadoweaver to be raised, Glimmer looked shocked "she told us that the Horde took her as a baby, but I thought that she been put in some Horde orphanage". The thought of someone like Shadoweaver raising a child was enough to unease the stomachs of even the hardiest of people

To say that the revelation that Shadoweaver raised Adora shocked Glimmer would be a huge understatement as she could only imagine the type of upbringing Adora would have received under the witch, Angella fortunately or rather unfortunately didn't need to imagine, she had seen it all. Angella told her shocked daughter "she has been brought up to believe that the Horde's actions are correct, to see compasion as weakness, to take the Horde doctrine to heart and worse of all to see the princesses as violent terrorists", Glimmer replied with sadness "yeah, she told Bow that princesses were violent instigators who couldn't control their own powers". Angella was thoughtful on what her daughter had just said and responded "and we can't allow the Horde to control her power", "what do you mean, mum" asked Glimmer, a bit puzzled. "What I mean is that despite seeing the destruction of that village, she will still have her first loyalty to the Horde, whatever doubt she may have can easily be dissuaded by a clever mind and unfortunately both Hordak and Shadoweaver are both great at manipulating minds" stated Angella. "So what are going to do mum" Glimmer wondered as she asked, "I plan on breaking the Horde's hold on Force Captain Adora" said Angella with a gentle, but uncomfortable smile 

Later, Adora was brought back to Mind Projector and strapped next to it, "what do you have planned for me now, you mad bitch, you've already seen every memory in my head, what more can I show you?" Adora raged to Angella, Angella just gave her a serene smile and replied "you can show me nothing more to me, my dear sweet girl, I plan on giving you peace of mind". Adora was incredulous "peace of mind?, you kept me locked up like an animal and violate my memories, I was thinking about defecting from the Horde when Glimmer first brought me here, but now I think Hordak was actually right about you", she kept on venting "you better hope I never get free, because I'll pluck out every feather from your ridiculous wings and believe me I will make it so painful that this entire planetary system will be able to hear your screams". This was far from normal for Adora to display such anger, yes, she might be a Horde agent, but she wasn't one to display such disrespect to anyone, even a preceived enemy, but the last day had taken it's toll on Adora mentally. A guard was about to bring her spear to Adora's throat, but Angella blocked her guard's arm and gave her a shake of the head with a stern look

Angella rearranged some crystals on the device and activated it, "forgive me, my dear girl" she said under her breath with her back to Adora. The device projected a beam of light towards Adora's forehead which caused her to scream in agony, tears started to form in Angella's eyes as she listened to Adora's screams. Angella hated what she was doing, no being should be put under this much pain, not even a Horde agent, but it was necessary. The screams were so loud that Glimmer came rushing to the chamber door demanding to be let in, Angella, now in tears, went to see her daughter, "please Glimmer, do not come in here", Glimmer saw Adora writhing in agony and pleaded "mum, please stop, you're hurting her". Angella considered granting her daughter's request, what she was doing was almost too much to bear, but for the future of Etheria it needed to be done, "please, daughter, I have to do this, please understand", she then summoned for 2 of her guards to take Glimmer back to her room. After Glimmer was taken away, Angella continued with the sorry process, which mercifully ended after some time and when it was so she turned to a guard and commanded "let her rest here, I will attend to her when she recovers". After some rest Angella placed the Sword of Protection into the girl's hands and said "lift the sword and say the phrase", the girl did so and was transformed into She-Ra, the queen then demanded "now change back", the girl did so, Angella gave a gentle smile and said "well done, daughter"


	3. The new princess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She-Ra is introduced to a shocked court

Angella was as usual accompanied by a pair of her guards as they accompany her to Glimmer's room to explain to her what happened with Adora. The queen went into her daughter's room and sat on a chair by the vanity, she adressed Glimmer, "Glimmer, I need to tell you before I tell everyone else, I have managed to make adjustments to the Horde soldier's mind using the mind projector", Glimmer was stunned "you haven't turned her into some sort of zombie have you?", the queen frowned at her daughter "don't be so foolish, daughter, no, I have merely erased some memories and altered some thought patterns". Glimmer could hardly believe what her mother was telling her "what do you mean?", she asked almost afraid of the answer. The queen answered "I have erased some of her more pleasant memories of being with the Horde and changed her prespective of her time with them from one of acceptance to one of fear", Glimmer was aghast, she could not believe that someone like her mother could stoop to such a level, "mother, how can you be alright about doing this?", Angella gave a quick laugh as she answered "alright?, believe me I far from alright, what I did disgusted me, but it was necessary". Glimmer now started to wonder if her own mother was finally going insane from decades of worrying about the Horde

Angella continued with her sad debriefing to her daughter, "she has also been conditioned to see herself as new adoptive member of the royal family, a 'daughter' long thought lost returned to us", Glimmer's jaw just dropped "DAUGHTER, you know how crazy this sounds?", the stared at her "I am well aware, Glimmer, but we need to have her have some connection to some sort of family and Shadoweaver and the Horde cannot be it". Glimmer had to ask "why do it this way, why not try to convince her another way?, she was starting to have doubts", Angella placed an arm on her daughter's shoulder "because having doubts alone is not enough to convince someone that they might be wrong and we cannot afford someone with her new ability to be used as a weapon by the Horde". Glimmer threw her mother's arm off her shoulder and retorted "so we go down the path of brainwashing?, to hell with the person's right to choose as long as it is far the common good?", "IT IS FOR SURVIVAL, GLIMMER" Angella roared in desperation before going on "the Horde has already taken over most of the planet, we are one of the few kingdoms left, yes, the Whispering Woods have kept us safe so far, but it is only a matter of time before they break through and the other kingdoms are ruled by silly little girls who have their heads in the sand". "How can you saw that, mum?" asked a stunned Glimmer, "because it is true" answered Angella as she went on to describe each princess "Perfuma is ditzy, Entrapta is absolutely obsessed with tech and would go where it was, even if that meant being with the Horde, Frosta is too restrictive and too young and as for Mermista, the Horde could be smashing down her walls and she would be sitting there going 'uuhhhh, yeah, whatever'"

Glimmer could hardly dispute her mother's descriptions of the other princesses, but that in her mind still did not excuse what she did to Adora, "ok, mum, but why did you have to put Adora through such agony when you were conditioning her?", Angella dropped her head in shame "because the happy memories she had with being with the Horde were too entrenched in her mind and I had to have them removed, we can't risk her returning to the Horde, no matter what, and the only other way to stop that was to be her imprisoned and that would defeat the purpose". "What happy memories could anyone have of being with that awful lot?" asked Glimmer incredulously, "she was in love, Glimmer, or at least she had yet to realise that she was in love" stated Angella, "in love, was it with Hordak, does he brainwash his followers to love him?" asked a horrified Glimmer. Angella shook her head "no, it was with another Horde soldier, a girl named Catra, they had been raised up together under Shadoweaver and had always looked out for each other". Glimmer thought of what it must have been like to have been brought up by the Horde as children, Glimmer was more than aware of the terrible crimes the Horde had committed against the people of Etheria and the thought of those monsters being caretakers of children turned her stomach

The more Glimmer thought about Adora's upbringing, the more she thought that her mother was maybe right in what she had to do to Adora. Sure, Adora saved her and Bow from a giant bug creature when she first turned into She-Ra and was able to read First Ones script clear as day, but it was also clear that Adora, despite being clearly a good person, still had an affinity for the Horde. It was understandable, she had been raised by them after all and with new abilities she was too dangerous to be allowed to go back to the Horde, the idea of the Horde gaining access to First Ones tech, still by far the most advanced even after 1000 years, was bad enough, but She-Ra becoming a Horde agent, that was unspeakable. Glimmer's initial plan to introduce her mother to She-Ra then gradually to Adora had went out the window with Adora's capture at the refugee camp and the animosty between the two when Adora was first brought before Angella didn't exactly help the chances of Adora defecting from the Horde

Glimmer although far from happy, decided to go along with her mother's plan, which she discussed with her friend Bow, "mum, has decided to bring in Adora to the fold", Bow was happy to hear that Adora would be permanent part of their team, "that's great news, Glimmer, we'll....", he stopped when he saw the doubtful look on Glimmer's face. "What's wrong, Glimmer?, I thought you'd be happy that Adora would be joining us" he said with a concerned look to his friend, she replied "I would be, if mum didn't recruit her the way that she did", "she didn't threaten her with imprisonment if she didn't join, did she? Glimmer sighed "no, if only it was that simple", Bow was puzzled "then what do you mean?", she looked to him with sad eyes and said "she used the Mind Projector to alter Adora's mind". Bow staggered back "WHAAAAATT?, she did what, why?", she replied with the same look on her face "mum thinks we can't take the chance of Adora maybe wanting to go back to the Horde, so she's done what she thought was necessary to prevent that from happening". Bow face then took on the sad deject expression as his friend when a guard came in and told them "the queen expects your presence in the throne room"

The throne room reflected it's monarch, beautiful, peaceful, bright and of course serene, in her floating throne sat Queen Angella watching the summoned crowds gather, she noticed her old friends from the original Princess Alliance, Netossa and Spinerella. The married pair had remained very close friends with the queen despite the failure of the first alliance and were seen as sort of adoptive aunts to Glimmer. The pair like the rest of throng gathered were in anticipation of what the queen was going to say in her address, they didn't have long to wait as Angella stepped down from her throne on floating steps and began to address the crowd, "I have summoned you here today to present to you a new ally in our battle against the Horde, I present to you She-Ra". The crowd gasped as in walked in a radiant, tall valkyrie with long flowing long blonde hair and an aura of confidence and power, the queen went on addressing the crowd "She-Ra, Princess of Power"


	4. Fright Zone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adora's absence is not exactly going unnoticed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this version, Adora is mostly like she is the updated series, but with elements of how she was in the original series in that when she was a Force Captain, she was ruthless, self centred, distrusting and smug and went on Horde campains, although unlike the rest of the Horde she was never cruel. The original series gave a reason of why Adora was a Force Captain, something the updated series lacked

Shadoweaver was annoyed, Force Captain Adora had been missing for 2 whole nights and they're was no sign of her, she 'asked' Catra on the whereabouts of Adora, "where is she?" she asked in a demanding tone. Catra tried to keep a stern look on her face , but it was obvious that she was becoming frightened as she answered "I don't know, we're not tied at the hip, you know", Shadoweaver scowled as she replied to Catra's caustic answer "watch your tone, Catra, if I find out you've been lying", "Lying?" Catra protested angrily "the last I knew is that we were both in bed together and when I woke up she was gone", that wasn't strictly true as Adora did inform her that she was returning to the Whispering Woods to retrieve some sword. Shadoweaver was to say the least, less than pleased as a dark aura formed around her and she threatened Catra "I will get the truth even if I have to drag it out of your mind". Catra started to visibly panic as Shadoweaver advanced upon her, fortunately for Catra something seemed to pull Shadoweaver away leaving her shaken, but still wondering what happened to Adora

Angella was still in her presentation of She-Ra as she addressed the court "my people and allied friends, hope has returned to us, we have the greatest of champions with us, we have She-Ra, the days of the Hordes tyranny are coming to an end", with that the crowd cheered wildly, but Glimmer looked skeptical and whispered to Bow "I wonder how much cheering they would be if they knew how mum got She-Ra". Bow in his usual oppurtunistic manner tried to put a positive spin on it "at least, we got She-Ra and we've got Adora to stay with us, so it can't be all bad,right?" Glimmer just looked at him as her mother continued her address to the court, "when the one who was She-Ra came amomg us, we had thought that she was a Horde spy and she was taken in by my Moon Guards", she signalled for She-Ra to change back into Adora and continued on "after much investigation we determined that this poor girl was being held by the Horde and denied her birth right". That was true up to a certain point, just that the investigation was into any possible Horde crimes that Adora may have committed and that she was raised by the Horde and never knew anything about any potential birth right.

Adora was then surrounded by many of the people who were assembled in the court asking her questions and wishing her fortune, Netossa asked her "what was it like when you first became She-Ra?". Angella was listening with great interest as Adora answered "to be honest, i didn't fully know what was going on, all I could hear was a voice in my head asking me 'will you fight for the honour of grayskull', so I shouted out the phrase and I was transformed into She-Ra, when I transformed back I was frightened to say the least as were Glimmer and Bow". Glimmer could attest to that, she took the sword off Adora when she changed back and tried to become She-Ra herself but couldn't, Spinerella, Netossa's wife then asked "when did you discover that you could read First Ones script? Adora answered "when I got to the First Ones tower with Glimmer and Bow, I don't know how, but I was able to read it as clear as day"

Netossa then asked "Adora what was it like being with the Horde for so long?", Adora was about to answer when Angella interrupted, "we try not to bring any mention of those times as we are trying to move beond them" The speed at which Angella interupted Netossa's question was noticed not only by Netossa herself, but also by Glimmer and Bow, who commented to Glimmer "wow, your mum sure was quick to get in when Netossa was asking Adora about the Horde", Glimmer replied "yes, she was, wasn't it she?". Angella made another proclamation to the court "tomorrow my daughter Glimmer will be accompanying She-Ra on a dipolamatic tour to the other kingdoms starting with Plumeria, this tour could hopefully reignite the Princess Alliance", to which the court applauded, all except Glimmer, who looked displeased with the idea

Catra was complaining loudly to Kyle, Lonnie and Rowello about Shadoweaver "she's always on my case, nothing I do is ever good enough for that old witch", Kyle was about to say something in reply as Shadoweaver walked in. "Maybe that's because you're such a great disappointment, Catra" Shadoweaver said with all her usual condescending venom, Catra tried to retaliate, but she like the others in the room were intimidated by Shadoweaver's presence that lingered over the place like a darkened night. She went over to Catra and said "Lord Hordak has ordered that you are to lead an assault on the rebel kingdom of Pummeria, quite why he would assign such a task to you I have no idea", Catra replied "maybe it's because he has faith in me to do things and not hang about like a bad smell". The atmosphere in the room darkened considerably as Shadoweaver began to menace Catra "be very careful, Catra, Hordak might have faith in you, but to me you will always be a disappointment, however if you want a way to redeem yourself you will find Adora and bring her back", with that Shadoweaver left , leaving Catra to take out her frustrations with her claws on a locker door


	5. Flower Maiden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She-Ra goes to Plumeria

The Bright Moon diplomatic envoy arrived at the Kingdom of Plumeria, a small kingdom overseen by Princess Perfuma, who had control of plantlife. The Princess greeted Bow and Glimmer with flowers "welcome friends, we greet you all with love and friendship, ooohhh I am so happy to see you" Perfuma said in a very hyped tone, she went on "come, come, we've got......aaaaahhhhh". Perfuma noticed the glowing long haired blonde with the crystal blue eyes and her heart skipped a beat, "is that?" she asked her eyes filled with wonder. Bow pleased as punch answered "yep, that is She-Ra", Perfuma looked like she was about to fall in love as she clasped her hands in delight. Glimmer rolled her eyes at Perfuma's display, which luckly went unnoticed as Perfuma and her entourage went up to greet She-Ra in very excited manner "oooooh, it's She-Ra, you're here to save us, aren't you?", Perfuma was all aquiver with delight with the shining valkyrie. Some of the Moon Guards that had accompanied the envoy began to mirth quietly as She-Ra began to answer "yes, we're here to help how we can", Perfuma almost exploded with delight "ooooh, thank you, thank you"

Perfuma brought the team over to the central tree in the kingdom, the one that contained the Heart Blossom Rune, the power source of Perfuma's abilities and the life force of the kingdom's plant life. The tree had looked sickly and Perfuma told She-Ra of the problem "the Heart Blossom tree is sick and it's causing the other plants to start to wither, do you think you can help?" she asked in a pleading tone. She-Ra smiled and said "lets give it a try", the Plumerians along with Perfuma looked on with wondered hope as She-Ra brought her sword level with the tree and said "ok, sword, do your magic healing thing", the sword shot out a beam of energy which engulfed the tree. She-Ra could feel the energy of the beam as the Plumerians watched in awe, which quickly turned to aw when She-Ra couldn't sustain the beam. "I'll try again" she said as the sword shot out a second beam and the Plumerians again waited in anticipation and were again disappointed when She-Ra once again couldn't sustain the beam, more so when She-Ra reverted back to Adora

The Plumerians gasped in disappointment, "she's just a girl" Adora heard one of them saying, "so you can't help?" asked Perfuma with a sad look on her face. Adora with a guilty expression said "I have only been She-Ra for a short time, I am only getting used to power, but I promise you I will help", Perfuma asked with some hope returning to her voice "how long have you been She-Ra?", Adora looked sheepish as she answered "about 3 days", the Plumerians were stunned and Perfuma replied "no wonder you couldn't help, you're still getting used to your new abilities, but tell us what were you before you found out that you were She-Ra. Adora was about to answer when Glimmer teleported beside her putting her hand over her mouth, laughing nervously and answering for her "nothing much, Adora here was just a normal Bright Moon girl, nothing much special, excuse us, please, Adora and I have a lot to discuss", Adora recovering from the surprise of having Glimmer placing her hand over her mouth quickly moved Glimmer's hand away and was about to speak for herself when there was aloud explosion

The peaceful atmosphere was disturbed by the sounds of people screaming in terror and sight of people running in panic, some of them bleeding heavily. Perfuma was herself in panic "oh my, whats happening, whats going on?" she bluttered out. A frightened Pummerian was heard screaming "ITS THE HORDE, THEY'RE ATTACKING PLUMERIA", in the near distance a squad of Horde tanks could be seen blasting away at the settlements of the kingdom causing massive amounts of damage. The Plumerians tried to put up a defence against the onslaught, but were getting absolutely pounded. The Moon Guard leader had seen enough and said to her troops "come on, we have to stop this", Adora agreed with that statement and called out "FOR THE HONOUR OF GRAYSKULL" lifting her sword, transforming into She-Ra. She charged into the fray with Glimmer and Bow following closely behind her, the Moon Guards were in close quarters combat with some Horde Troopers with neither gaining an advantage over the other. She-Ra shouted "we've got to take out those tanks before they destroy everything", with that Glimmer teleported herself next to one of the tanks releasing glittering balls dazzling the occupants

Unfortunately a momentary distraction was all it provided as the tank's operators soon recovered and aimed the tank's cannon right at Glimmer and were about to fire when a loud yelp was heard through the air and the cannon was sliced off by a sword. She-Ra had used her sword to save Glimmer's life and to stop the tank doing anymore damage, she went to see Glimmer was alright "are you ok, Glimmer?", Glimmer a bit shaken up replied "yeah, but that was close". Glimmer shook herself off and helped with the fight, Bow had fired an explosive arrow at the tracks of another tank stopping it's progress, the Moon Guards proceeded to take out the occupants. They were still tanks firing at the settlements and the surrounding environment causing massive damage and loss of life, screams were heard as the Plumerians tried to run for safety, "WE HAVE TO END THIS NOW" shouted She-Ra as her sword sliced through another tank. The Moon Guards were starting to gain the advantage over the Horde troopers, but they were not without their own casualties "STRIKE, MY SISTERS, FOR ETHERIA" cried out the commander of the guards rallying her troops. The remaining Horde ground troops soon beat a retreat as they were eventually overrun leaving only a few tanks which were dispatched thanks to She-Ra and her allies, now they had to cope with aftermath


	6. Wilting Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle at Plumeria had a terrible cost

Perfuma wept openly as she looked at the damage to her kingdom, trees and flowers were obilterated, homes were destroyed and most importantly lives were lost, Plumerian, Bright Moon and even Horde, all this destruction for a terrible cause. She-Ra decided that if she couldn't do anything else she not allow Hordak to crush those people's spirit, she would restore the Heart Blossom Rune, so that the people of Pummeria might one day have a chance, one day, to start again. She pointed her sword at the rune and unleashed a beam of energy and kept concentrating on it until it fixed the rune, she then reverted back to being Adora, she went up to Perfuma with sorrow in her steps and told her "I am so sorry, I should have done more". Perfuma, gentle soul that she was, smiled through her tears "no, thank you, without you even more lives would have been lost and you were able to fix the runestone", "yeah", Adora despondantly replied

Watching from a short distance was Catra, she was stunned when the blonde valkyrie had changed back to her friend Adora, but now when she saw Adora's eyes, she saw that they had a very slight distant look in them. She knew it wasn't disappointment or regret, she had seen these looks many times in Adora, no this was something very different, she looked again then she heard Adora speak, "come, we must tell Queen Angella what happened here", the voice didn't have it's usual swagger, it had emotion, yes, but it also a very slight lack of depth of commitment to it as if there was some nagging doubt, then it hit Catra, it was obvious that rebels had done something to her mind. This was confirmed moments later when Adora spotted her and attacked her "Horde trollop" she heard Adora call her as she punched her gut, Catra doubled over pain, Adora followed up with a knee to the face that caused her face to bleed as she heard Adora say "you flith kept me locked up my whole life, bending me to your filthy will". Yes, the Horde did take Adora and installed their values in her, but they did not lock her up, this was final confirmation of what Catra thought must have happened, now she just needed to get away, the oppurtunity presented itself when Bow disttracted Adora long enough for to be able to get away

Adora was about to go after her, but Bow reminded her of the crisis at hand "hey, let her go, we need to help these people", Adora nodded and went back to the Plumerians. It would take them years to recover, sure the Heart Blossom Rune would regrow the vegetation fairly quickly, but the number of lives lost and the homes destroyed would not be so easy to recover. A Moon Guard was heard weeping, cradling the body of a Horde trooper, her compatriots asked her why she was cradling the body of such a horrible creature, then she showed them the creature, it was a young boy of about 15. The sight shocked the guard commander who ordered "take off the helmets of those Horde troopers, let's see who they were", the guards lifted the helmets of the fallen Horde troopers, there were some fully mature adults among them, but most of them were young girls and boys. "They're children" Perfuma shakingly said "They're just children, who could they do this?" she asked in a tone of horror and sadness. The guard commander who knew Adora's real history answered "they were brought up to think this was right, they had been indoctrinated by the Horde" a tone of anger could be heard in her voice as she spoke

Adora asked Glimmer if she had enough power to teleport herself back to Bright Moon, Glimmer responded with that she had, Adora then told her "tell your mother what happened here, ask her to send help". Glimmer teleported herself to Bright Moon Castle where her mother asked on what had happened, she answered "Plumeria was attacked by the Horde, hundreds were killed, half of the kingdom was destroyed, if it wasn't for She-Ra it would have been a lot worse". Angella recoiled at what she heard, but worse was yet to come as Glimmer continued through teary eyes "most of the Horde attackers were younger than us, they slaughtered so many, mum". Angella hugged her shaking daughter with tears starting to form in her own eyes, rage, concern and validation were now evenly in Angella's mind, rage of the slaughter of so many by those who should be still in care of loving families, concern of what this would do to her daughter's spirit and validation of what she did to Adora. Glimmer then asked "Adora asked me to ask to you if you will send aid to Plumeria", the queen held her daughter's tear filled face and smiled "of course, I will, I planned to the moment you told me of the attack". Glimmer brought a weak smile to her face "thanks mum, I'll go tell Adora", with that Glimmer teleported herself back to Plumeria. Angella contemplated what Glimmer had told her and wondered if Adora had been part of such raids herself, yes, she had seen much of Adora's life in the Horde through the Mind Projector, but she stopped viewing when she saw some of Adora's training in the Horde, she contemplated if the one who is now She-Ra had the blood of innocents on her hands, she knew that the Horde wiped memories from their troops so that they wouldn't be broken by the slaughter and start to question Horde doctrine, had that happened with Adora? With Adora being in her early 20's and of having being a Force Captain, she had to admit it was most probable, that combined with of how the events at Plumeria would have affected her daughter, she let out a deafening scream


	7. Salineas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team now needing the Alliance more than ever head to Salineas while Shadoweaver plots

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this AU the ages of the characters are as follows
> 
> Adora - 21  
> Glimmer - 17  
> Bow - 18  
> Queen Angella - 42  
> Catra - 21  
> Shadoweaver - 54  
> Perfuma - 25  
> Mermista - 24  
> Scorpia - 27  
> Entrapta - 30  
> Sea Hawk - 26  
> Castaspella - 40  
> Frosta - 11  
> Spinerella - 35  
> Netossa - 32

Catra had made it back to the Fright Zone to an inquisition from Shadoweaver, "was the raid a success?", Catra sarcasticialy replied "yeah, if you consider destroying half of Plumeria a success, but a total loss if your forces were routed by Moon Guards". Shadow gave Catra a dark stare, "hmph, well at least you got something right" refering to the destruction, Catra boiled at this, but said nothing. Shadoweaver noticed the injuries and demanded "how did you get these injures?", Catra had venom in her voice when she answered "from your precious Adora or what was once her", Shadoweaver's tone darkened "what do you mean?", Catra went on "there was something in her....urgghh". Shadoweaver had grabbed Catra's head and was piercing into her most recent memories, "hmmm, it would appear that Queen Angella has indeed changed Adora's prespective, you will find Adora again and release this probe, but do not engage". Catra was given a small insect like device and Shaoweaver instructed her further "this device will scan Adora's mind and we will see what changes were made"

The team arrived at the ocean kingdom of Salinaes, once ruled by a king wyo disappeared with the failure of the first alliance and was now ruled by his daughter, Mermista, although the terms rule and kingdom were opened to interpretation as the kingdom was in shambles with most of the population having fled leaving Mermista with only one servant and Sea Hawk for company. Oh, how she loved to listen to Sea Hawk's tales of adventure, she was 'revealing' in one of Sea Hawk's many tales of daring do when the team came into her throne room. Glimmer went up to her and addressed her "your highness, I am Princess Glimmer and we're here to...", "yeah, yeah" came the response from Mermista as she rose up from her throne, "you've save me from having to listen to anymore of Sea Hawk's oh so riveting tales" she carried on, Sea Hawk's happy mood faltered at the sarcastic tone in the princesses voice. "But now you're here, what do you want?" asked Mermista in a bored tone

Glimmer stood in front of her and told her "we're here to try and re-establish the Princess Alliance, we need to stick together against the Horde, Mermista gave a dismissive grunt "hmmph, why bother?, it failed the last time". Adora stepped foward to address the princess "your highness, the Horde is stepping up their conquest of what's left of Etheria, I don't know if you are aware, but the Horde has already destroyed half of Plumeria with hundreds killed, we need this alliance more than ever, believe me". While she was addressing Mermista, Adora had swatted away a flying insect that was bothering her, it flew away and Adora thought no more about it. Mermista answered "that only proves how useless the alliance would be", Bow came foward "that is where you're wrong you're highness, we managed to drive the Hode off and got Perfuma into the alliance with the help of She-Ra". Mermista gave a dismissive laugh "yeah, She-Ra, right", Adora again went to Mermista "you know, I can have She-Ra fix your Sea Gate", the Sea Gate was the last obstacle in the Horde's total control of the seas. Mermista gave an exasperated groan "uuuhhh, yeah, whatever, if you can get She-Ra to fix the gate, I'll join your stupid alliance". Adora stood back, lifted her sword and called out "FOR THE HONOUR OF GRAYSKULL"

Both Mermista's and Sea Hawk's jaws dropped at the awesome transformation, with Sea Hawk blutering out "she's real" in near disbelief, Memista for once had no smart quips. Bow and Glimmer smiled at the stunned faces of their hosts while She-Ra went to the Sea Gate and like with the Heart Blossom tree used the power of the sword to fix the crumbling defence. Mermista despite her earlier skepticism kept her side of the bargain and joined the alliance, now they were only 2 left, Entrapta and Frosta, to hopefully bring into the alliance and after a break back at Bright Moon Castle, the team would journey to Dryl then the Kingdom of the Snows. Unbeknown to them, the flying insect that was annoying Adora earlier was no mere past, it was in fact the probe given to Catra by Shadoweaver to collect information on Adora's mind. Catea had tracked the team to Salinaes and deployed the probe, on the way back to the Fright Zone, Catra thought to herself "now, Adora, we'll see what has happened to you"


	8. Dryl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team head to Dryl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK, cards on the table, when the team gets to Dryl it will be like the Salinaes chapter in that it will be a very condensed version of canon, at some point in the next chapter is where the AU will continue, please bare with

The team arrived back at Bright Moon Castle for a rest before their journey to Dryl, the kingdom of Princess Entrapta, they were happy that their mission to Salinaes was uneventful in comparison to what happened in Plumeria, but at least they got both Mermista and Perfuma into the alliance. "It was easy, mum", said Glimmer, cheerfully, "no Horde, just had to fix their Sea Gate", Bow interrupted *it was She-Ra who fixed the gate, we kinda just sat and watched". Adora laughed out "it was kinda funny seeing their faces when I turned into She-Ra", Bow and Glimmer both laughed out as Glimmer added "yeah, seeing Sea Hawk's jaw drop was just the best". The Queen congratulated them "well done you 3, you've done marvellously", but she had her fears about their next ambassadorial missions and she also had fears about Adora, she asked her "Adora, when you change into She-Ra is Adora still there?", Adora replied "yes, there is only a physical change, my personality remains the same". Angella had fears of Adora regaining her erased memories and fully regaining her altered personality and so was looking to prehaps keeping Adora in permanent She-Ra state, at least personality wise, physically would be too much, should the worse come to the worse, but now that queen just learn that Adora and She-Ra share the same personality, that was now out of the question

Catra handed over the probe to Shadoweaver, "you know I had to go to that damned Salinaes, I hate water", she said in a huff, "stop your complaining and let us see what this probe has found" responded Shadoweaver. The probe brought up an image of Adora's brain, "ah, some memories erased, some altered, very limited personality alteration" Shadoweaver observed, "so you can fix it?" Catra asked. Shadoweaver gave a sinister laugh "fix it?, it will be child's play and you will be the one to administrate the antidote and then we will see some fun", Catra responded with alarm "and how do you expect me to administer it?, she'll pulverise me if I come physically close to her". Shadoweaver simply replied "you will not have to, all you need to be is within breathing distance, now go, while I concuct the antidote", Catra left Shadoweaver's chamber. After some time Cara was called back to Shadoweaver's chamber and when she got there she was covered in a fine dust, "HEYY" she called out to Shadoweaver, "cease your whining, Catra" demanded Shadoweaver, "this is the antidote". Catra was perplexed "how is covering me in this dust going to cure Adora?", Shadoweaver explained "the dust will be partionally absorbed into your body to spread it to Adora all you need do is either breath near her or give a physical gesture like a wave an arm near her, the dust is tailored especially for her DNA", Catra enquired "and it will cure her?", Shadoweaver gave a satisfied "it will do more than clear her head"

When the squad got to Dryl, they noticed a distress beacon and that the people in the royal castle were in panic, Adora asked one of them what was going on, the terrified baker told her "it's the machines made by the princess, they've gone bezerk, something has infected them". Bow asked with urgency "where is the princess we got to go find her?", the baker answered "she's in her workshop, she's try to fix this", The team headed to the workshop where they found the princess, Entrapta working at her computer. Entrapta was an unusual being with long lilac hair that had 2 very large side braids that could be used as extra limbs, which she was using to hold things while she worked on her computer. Before they managed to get to the workshop the team had almost fell into 2 of Entrapta's traps, but Glimmer managed to teleport them each time. The traps were not meant for the squad, but for the out of control robots that were running amock. Glimmer asked what was going on, to which Entrapta answered in hyperactive, high pitched tone "hi, there, I found some First Ones tech and thought I'd use it to to upgrade my robots, but uh-oh, it caused them to malfunction", "I'll say" replied bow

Entrapta used a hand clap to activate a large cleaning robot to clean the lab, but the robot had been infected with the same virus that had effected the other robots and had started to attack the squad and Entrapta. Adora had changed into She-Ra and used the sword to destroy the malfunctioning machine, but the virus that had been affecting the machines travelled through the sword and began to affect She-Ra, She-Ra began to act bizzarely and in her distracted state Glimmer got the sword away from her and She-Ra changed back to Adora, who collapsed in a stupor. Glimmer asked Entrapta "what's causing the robots to go berzerk?", Entrapta answered "it's a First Ones data disk that has sent a virus to the robots, it's in one of my other labs". Bow decided to head to the other lab, while Glimmer looked after Adora, on the way Bow and Entrapta encounter other people try to fight the defective bots, they were growing fearful, but Bow managed to encourage them as they fought their way to the lab. They managed to get to the lab, where the disk errected a barrier was attempting to power itself up, Bow fired a sonic arrow at it which caused the infected robots to attack it, causing the barrier to collapse and the disk to be destroyed. This ended the infection and Adora soon recovered and Entrapta soon joined the alliance, but decided to stay in Dryl and study the now broken and inert disk. Now they went to the Kingdom of the snows to hopefully encourage the last princess, Frosta to join the alliance: 


	9. All Your Sins Remembered

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things take a very dark turn at the Princess Prom

The Kingdom of Snows was a frozen kingdom ruled over by the youngest of the remaining princess, Forsta, who was hosting the Princess Prom, a social event that rotated between all the princesses, who would host it in turn. The guest list would be the other princesses, their partners and invited people, this of course included Glimmer and her entourage. They decided to dress up for the occasion with Glimmer wearing a lilac gown, Bow putting on a gray tuxedo and as for Adora, she looked stunning in the red dress she was wearing, Bow commentated "wow, Adora, you look amazing". Adora thanked him, but had butterflies in her stomach, going to social event was not exactly a big thing in the Horde and she said to Glimmer "I am a bit nervous, Glimmer, I never been to any type of event like this, I am scared I might do something wrong", Glimmer tried to reassure her "oh, don't worry, you'll be fine, just follow my lead". That seemed to settle Adora's nerves, a little as they went into the Ice Palace

Adora was stunned when she saw Frosta, "that's her, she's the ruler of this place?, she must only be about 10", Frosta had overheard and replied "I'm 11 and three quarters and I've been ruling this place since I was 8" in a haughty voice. Adora then apologised, which was coldly accepted by Frosta. The event went on with various dances, when the trio went to speak to Frosta, Glimmer was the one to address Frosta, "your highness, we're here to hopefully petition you to join the Princess Alliance", Frosta replied "we have no need for any such alliance, the Kingdom of Snows has always been capable of defending itself and the Horde is not a threat to us". Adora thought to herself "not a threat?, you stupid, deluded little girl, they're only not a threat to you because Hordak is obsessed with destroying the Whispering Woods and conquering Bright Moon, for now the Horde is not really interested in your kingdom". Adora tried to reason with Frosta "please, your highness, reconsider, our entire world is in danger of falling to the Horde, if we don't band together the Horde will take everything", Frosta just dimissed her pleas when Catra, accompanied by Scorpia walked into the hall

When the trio spotted them they turned to Frosta with Adora especially pleading "your highness, you can't let these Horde agents in here, they will cause trouble", Frosta arrogantly replied "they are here by invitation and I won't tell them to go based on a hunch from an honory princess", she then left the trio. Catra came up to Adora and took her by the hand to lead her for a dance, Catra knew that Adora wouldn't attack her in this setting. The dust that Catra had been covered in by Shadoweaver was by now half absorbed into her body and was now seeping into Adora and was starting to affect Adora, Catra tried to bait Adora "you know, Adora, we really could have had such great times in the Horde, it's a pity you were so uptight", Adora with venom responded "great times with scum like you?, I don't think so". Catra kept her cocksure attitude throughout the dance, but was hurting on the inside, Adora was closest she had ever been to anyone in her life, they had both looked out for each other and Catra was sure that she had fellen in love with Adora and was pretty sure Adora felt the same way about her or at least saw her as someone who she'd always be close to. Catra thought to herself, "soon, Adora, you'll be back with the Horde, you'll be back with me". The dust kept on affecting Adora throughout the dance and when the dance ended, Catra seperated from Adora and blew her a kiss that spread far more of the dust onto Adora, this caused Adora to cry out and fall to her knees holding the sides of her head in pain with a very visble glow around her that was seen by everyone

Bow and Glimmer ran up to Adora, "what have you done to her?, Horde scum" Glimmer angrily demanded, Adora just got up and walked to the cloakroom to retrieve her sword and with determination shouted out "FOR THE HONOUR OF GRAYSKULL" turning into She-Ra before the now stupified people in the hall. She-Ra went up to Glimmer and said in a raised voice "what have they done to me?, your winged whore of a mother treated me like some sort of lab animal, turned me into some kind of puppet to be used to attack the one I love", she looked over to Catra with affection. Catra looked back at her with a smirk, but had a warm feeling in her, her Adora was back and she would never again let her go, ever. Glimmer knowing that her mother did not try to turn Adora into a puppet tried to protest and get Adora to see sense, but was floored by a might backhand from She-Ra that knocked her to the floor semi conscious. Bow tried to stand up for Glimmer against the irate She-Ra, but was cast aside like a rag, Frosta fired icicles at She-Ra, who easily deflected them with her sword. She-Ra then grabbed Frosta by the neck, raising her off the ground and said "honoury princess?, I am your fucking queen, you arrogant little brat", She-Ra then smashed Frosta into her throne, nearly snapping her spine and causing her to roll off it in an unconscious heap on the floor. She-Ra then screamed out "MELT IT DOWN, ALL OF IT"

Catra obliged her by signalling to Scorpia to detonate the heat bombs they had planted throughout the kingdom while she signalled for the waiting Horde battallion to attack. The kingdom's guardsmen readied themselves for the oncoming onslaught and a few of them tried to attack She-Ra, but were cut to pieces by her sword, Catra and Scorpia had their fun with the overmatched guardsmen, while the Horde battallion swept up what remained of them. It was an absolute massacre, worse than what happened at Plumeria with blood mixing with melting ice and people fleeing for their lives. The Horde soon secured the rune chamber and captured the Fractal Flake, "bring that with us" ordered She-Ra, the Horde troopers looked to Catra for confirmation, who nodded with enthusiastic approval and the rune was secured on a Horde transport. Bow got up and went to Glimmer who was starting to recover and told her "we have to get Frosta and get out of here", "no, we have to fight and save this kingdom" replied Glimmer. Bow said with great urgency "Glimmer, the kingdom is lost, Frosta is seriously injured and we are in no shape to fight", Glimmer soon realised that Bow was right and they went up to Frosta's unconscious body and Glimmer teleported all 3 back to Bright Moon, very soon the Kingdom of the Snows was nothing more than a melted puddle and a memory to be lamented by the people of Etheria


	10. Nightmares Realised

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Queen Angella hears of the Fall of the Kingdom of Snows

Glimmer arrived at Bright Moon with Bow and Frosta and collapsed with exhaustion, a Moon Guard ran up to them and shouted "GET HELP, GO TELL THE QUEEN". They were taken to the castle infirmary and Queen Angella came rushing in, she questioned Bow, the only one who was still conscious, "Bow, what's going on, what's happening, where's Adora?", Bow was dejected when he answered "Adora has been turned against us, the Horde did something to her, the Kingdom of the Snows is gone, it's been completely wiped off the surface of the planet, there's nothing left, they took the Fractal Flake, it was a massacre". Angella was beside herself in disbelief "WHAAAATT, the Kingdom of the Snows had tens of thousands of people living there, are you saying they have all been killed?", Bow replied "some of the people managed to flee, but now they are homeless, we need to help them". Angella gave a weak smile "we will, Bow", she then turned to the doctor, "doctor, what about Frosta and my daughter?", the doctor answered "your daughter is only suffering from exhaustion, she'll be up after a good rest, but Frosta has her spine injured, we'll need to monitor her". Angella thanked the doctor and turned back to Bow "Bow, join us in the meeting room in a few hours, I'll will gather an emergency alliance meeting"

A few hours passed and Queen Angella was chairing a meeting with Netossa, Spinerella, Perfuma, Mermista, Sea Hawk and Entrapta, also joining them was her sister in law from Mystacor, Castaspella and the leaders of Angella's elite guard. Angella opened up "I have summoned you all to tell you that a grave situation has arisen, the Horde has She-Ra and the Kingdom of the Snows is gone", there were gasps and murmurs from around the table. The queen went on, "I have brought Bow to show us what happened, please, Bow, if you will, place your hand on the Memory Projector". Bow did as instructed and his memories of what happened where shown, the memory that showed Catra blowing the kiss to Adora, that noticibly covered Adora in dust, causing her to glow and collapse to her knees was the first to be commentated on with Castaspella angrily banging a fist on the table and shouting out "SHADOWEAVER". The next was when She-Ra slammed Frosta into her throne, Spinerella said quietly "that poor child", the greatest reaction came from the memories that showed the destruction and massacre. They were screams of anguish from Perfuma, Netossa and Spinerella held on to each others hands tightly, Entrapta simply stuttered "oh my, oh my, oh my", Sea Hawk was stunned into absolute seriousness and Mermista demanded that the memories stopped being shown

The shocking amount of violence was enough for Castaspella to get up from her seat, put both hands on the table and declare "I swear to you all right now on my oath as a sorceress of Mystacor, Shadoweaver will die for that massacre", Entrapta replied "but it was Catra and Scorpia that were there", Castaspella answered "I would recognise one of Shadoweaver's concuctions anywhere and Scorpia is as thick as a plate of mince and Catra is nowhere near as smart or as tough as she thinks she is, this has the hallmark of Shadoweaver all over it". The next to speak was Netossa who addressed Angella herself "one thing puzzles me, we heard She-Ra say that you treated her like a lab animal and that you turned her into a puppet, what did she mean by that? Angella was trying to come up with an answer when Glimmer came into the room and said with angry humour "yes, mummy dearest, tell all the good people gathered here what you did to poor Adora, tell them all how your paranoia could have been the cause of all this". Angella looked annoyed at her daughter and said "that's enough, Glimmer", Netossa added "it still doesn't answer the question", Angella answered "Adora was a Horde Force Captain". The room exploded with Castaspella angrily shouting out to Angella "YOU LET ONE OF THOSE MONSTERS LOOSE ON US, YOU ALLOWED IT TO BECOME SHE-RA?", Glimmer answered "that is where you are wrong, auntie, Adora was never a monster", "what do you mean?" Castaspella demanded. Glimmer prepared chapter and verse "Adora saved me and Bow from a giant bug monster and was able to read First Ones Script". The room gasped at that with Entrapta excitingly saying "oh my, guys, think of the possibilities","not now", Mermista interrupted her

Glimmer continued on "to cut a long story short, Adora was brought before my mother and locked in a cell, while she auditioned the women of the kingdom to become She-Ra, when none could and she found from our memories and the failed auditions that only Adora could become She-Ra, she sifted through Adora's memories and found that despite being with the Horde since an orphaned baby that Adora had no real trace of an evil personality, but that wasn't enough for mother, she used the Mind Projector on Adora to erase some memories, alter others and change aspects of her personality and thing was that she was already questioning her alligence to the Horde, the only real connection she had left to the Horde was that she was in love with Catra and mother had to even change that aspect. Castaspella turned to Bow and demanded to be told "is this true?", Bow just nodded and said dispondantly "yes, it's true". Castaspella turned back to a very guilty looking Angella and told her "you're responsible for all this, with what you did to that poor girl, Shadoweaver was able to awaken her erased and altered memories and what you did to her as well as turn her into a true monster with her concuction, your paranoia allowed Shadoweaver to be able to do this. Mermista had one question "you said that Adora was raised by the Horde?", Angella looked guilty when she answered "yes, a good deal of the Horde's army are babies orphaned in raids and raised to be Horde soldiers, Adora and Catra were 2 of them". Spinnerella was appalled when she shouted out "YOU MEAN WE'VE BEEN FIGHTING AND KILLING OUR OWN CHILDREN THIS WHOLE TIME?, THOSE MONSTERS" Castaspella decided to bring proceeding to close with the declaration "our first priority is the capture of Adora and Catra" she turned to Angella "where we at Mystacor will cure Adora of Shadoweaver's concuction and bring She-Ra back to us, you, Queen Angella will no longer lead this alliance", with that the meeting came to a close and they went to plan how to recapture Adora and Catra


	11. Theymor No More

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hordak sents Adora to attack Theymor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sky Cycle - Horde 1 man light attack flying bike
> 
> Annihilator - Horde 2 man bomber
> 
> Armoured Convoy Vehicle - Horde ground attack troop transport
> 
> I am using elements of the original series in this AU

Hordak was in conference with Shadoweaver, "Shadoweaver, you disobeyed my orders to abandon your search for one missing soldier and you have sent Catra, Scorpia and a whole battalion of my troops to search for her, you will call back them back". Shadoweaver tried to plead her case "Lord Hordak, the missing soldier that I have been searching for is no ordinary soldier, she has great power within her, power we can mold to our advantage, if you would please indulge me", Hordak with an annoyed tone replied "indulge you?, I've been more than....", he was interrupted by Imp flying into his chamber voicing a recording of triumphant cheering. "What is going on?" demanded Hordak as we went out to see what the commotions was, "Shadoweaver come with me" he ordered. The pair followed the sound of the cheering until the got to the courtyard where it was coming from, Hordak eyes widen in shock at what he saw "THE FRACTAL FLAKE" he shouted out in ectastic shock, he then demanded "WHO IS THE PROUD WARRIOR RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS GLORIOUS TRIUMPH FOR THE HORDE".The soldiers parted until a golden haired valkyrie being carried shoulder high by a pair of heavy set Horde soldiers and flanked by Scorpia and a smirking Catra was revealed to him and Shadoweaver. The pair went up to the small group where Hordak enquired "who is this new ally that has brought us this great victory?", the golden valkyrie was gently let down on to the ground, where she changed back to Adora, Hordak was now in complete shock "FORCE CAPTAIN ADORA?" he blurted out

Sometime later Adora was called into Hordak's chamber, where she walked in hand in hand with Catra, Shadoweaver looked somewhat annoyed at the display of affection between the pair. Hordak began to address Adora from his throne "Force Captain Adora, you have brought not only a great victory, but also a rune stone back to the Fright Zone, something that has never been achieved in battle" The only other rune stone that the Horde managed to achieve was the Black Garnet and that was given to them by Scorpia's family, the Horde had been trying for decades to get the others, but to no avail. He continued "you have also obliterated an obstacle to our conquest when you destroyed the Kingdom of the Snows and you have gained a new power", Hordak was engrossed by Adora sword, but was told by Shadoweaver that it will only ever work for Adora, but her spell over Adora would ensure Adora's loyalty to the Horde. He then proceeded to tell Adora "I have a new task for you, after a few days rest, you are to lead a squadron to conquer or destroy, either is fine, the rebel village of Theymor", Hordak also told Adora "you will no longer be sleeping in the Barracks, you will have your own private chambers, which you can share with Catra, if you desire". Adora and Catra shared an affectionated look with each other, which gained a glower from Shadoweaver

As they left Hordak's chamber, Shadoweaver said them "walk with me, Adora, the pair accompanied Shadoweaver as Shadoweaver spoke to Adora "you have brought a great victory to the Horde, Adora, well done, I will be watching your future endevours with great interest, can you please excuse us while I have a word with Catra", Adora replied "yes, mother" and went off to her new chamber. Shadoweaver turned to Catra "well done on bringing Adora back to us, I don't approve of your relationship with Adora, but I will tolerate it". The atmosphere then turned dark as Shadoweaver threatened Catra "but if you do anything to undermine her, I will crush you" with that Shadoweaver left. After a few days, mostly in each others company, Adora and Catra prepared for the raid on Theymor. They deployed Sky Cycles, Annihilators and Armored Convoy Vehicles on their mission to destroy Theymor

Theymor was a small town of several thousand people, it was a peaceful town with no real military importance, but it was targeted by the Horde none the less. "Deploy the Sky Cycles" Adora ordered "round up that filth", the Sky Cycles fired upon the defenceless civilians killing dozens herding the population to the centre. This caused panic as people fled in panic watching their loved ones being shot to pieces and wondering in horror why this was happening to them. Adora next deployed the Annihilators to take out the towns resource supplies, the explosions destroyed not only the buildings housing the supplies, but many neighbouring buildings as well, next the Convoy Vehicles deployed troops to subdue the town's resistance, Catra led the troops into the town. The town tried to put up a resistance against the Horde with one fool hardy man striking down Catra to the ground, Adora caught sight of it and turned into She-Ra and ran by to the man and struck him with the hilt of her sword, bursting his face in a bloody mess knocking him to the ground. "I'LL PULVERISE YOU, YOU PIECE OF DIRT" she shrieked to the fallen man and proceeded to beat the downed man into a near unrecognisible pulp while shrieking insanely. The man's wife came out to plead for the man's life, but this gave the insane She-Ra a new scope for cruelty, she grabbed the woman and invited her troops to have their way with her while forcing the beaten man to watch. Catra was glad that Adora had came to her aid, but she was starting to wonder about her Adora's sanity

A woman managed to sneak her son out of the town and told him to get help as She-Ra and the Horde troopers were rampaging through the town, finding new levels of depravity to sink to. Although no physical changes were made to her through Shadoweaver concuction, it was clear to anyone seeing the shrieking she-beast that her sanity was gone, with her ordering her troops to burn down the buildings. It did not matter if the people had evacuated them or not, she would take a terrible delight on hearing the trapped people's screams of pain and terror. The town was soon subdued and She- Ra, now turned back to Adora deciding the fate of the survivors, the babies and toddlers were to be taken for long term Horde indoctrination, the older children were to be left alone, there was at least some of Adora's original mercy left in the corrupted being she was now. The adults were divided into 3 catergories, those to be taken prisoner, those to be executed immediately and those to be left behind to serve as a living warning in the destroyed town. The Kingdom of the Snows had been utterly destroyed, sure, but it was done quickly without any real planning, but this was a new level of cruelty, it had been planned and time was taken to ensure maximum suffering in the people. Catra was no longer sure how much of her beloved left in what was once her Adora, but one thing was certain, Theymor was no more


	12. The Moon Shines Brightly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Alliance hears of Theymor

The young boy who fled Theymor ran into the path of a Moon Guard, who took hold of the frightened child "hey, hey, hey, there, what's wrong there?" she said to trembling boy. The boy replied with a shaky voice and tears streaming down his face "the horde attacked Theymor", the guard took the boy to her commanding officer, who in turn gave him into the care of a Bright Moon child care specialist. The officer lead a squadron to Theymor to investigate, even before they got there they could smell the burning ash of destroyed buildings and hear the agonising wails of survivors, at least the ones who were there. This, however, did not and could not prepare them for the sight that greeted them, as it was a sight that would sicken even the most hardened of veterans, smoldering buildings, dead bodies strewn across the landscapes, some torn to pieces while still alive, dead eyed survivors, many losing the will to go on anymore with many suffering from severe physical distress. The survivors, the ones who were still lucid all told the same story, of an insane, screaming blonde warrior woman, who could change size, leading the Horde in the attack, the squad leader had no doubt about the identity

Catra was listening to her beloved taking great joy in telling Hordak and Shadoweaver about the atrocity in Theymor, "we stamped on that scum so hard that they will never be able to get up from the mud where they belong" she said in a crazed tone. Catra had been on Horde raids before, but they had always been lighting fast, no real time to notice the true effect on the people being raided, it was strike fast and hard, see people flee, get loot, get out. This was a whole different level, it was methodical, time taken to ensure maximum suffering, destroy hope and Hordak and Shadoweaver were congratulating the corrupted monster that they created for it. "Well done, Adora, you have done well in ending a potential base for insurrection, soon, you will lead our armies in retrieving the other rune stones, starting with Salinaes" said Shadoweaver in her pleased and seductive tone, it made Catra's skin crawl. Adora replied "I couldn't do it without my darling Catra at my side" to which Shadoweaver replied in a dismissive tone "yes, quite", Catra gave her usual smirk, but was starting to feel empty inside. Catra had wanted Adora to rejoin her back in the Horde, she even made plots to undermine Adora in the eyes of her new friends so that Adora would lose all confidence and surrender her self back to the Horde, back to her. Catra got Adora back with her in the Horde, oh, who was she kidding? She got some abomination in Adora's form, a plaything for Hordak's and especially Shadoweaver's most twisted destructive desires to share a bed with, nothing more. She was going was to get her sweet Adora back to her and she knew what she must do

Queen Angella and Castaspella along with Bow and Glimmer were listening to the squad leader giving her report to them, "your majesty, we investigated a young boys claim of the Horde attacking Theymor, unfortunately we were too late to stop the attack". The soldier kept a professional tone, but she just wanted to break down, especially on what she had to tell them next, "we found that most of the buildings were turned to ash and those that weren't were smoldering wrecks". Angella brought her hand to her mouth in shock, but even worse was to come and the soldier asked to make a request, "your majesty, what I have to say next is even more graphic, it may be too much for the princess", Glimmer just replied "please, I need to hear, no matter how bad", Angella gave nod. The soldier continued her report "we saw many dead bodies, some were torn to pieces, other burnt to cinders while they were still alive", the rage in Castaspella was building. The report of the survivors was even more harrowing "we talked to the survivors, they said that the Horde took a number of the population as prisoners, the youngest children were taken to be raised as Horde soldiers and many of the people were executed". Castaspella demanded to be told "who led this outrage?" The soldier answered "the survivors described the leader as an insane shrieking blonde warrior woman who changes her size accompanied by a cat girl, they said one of the men of the town put up a defence against the Horde, knocking the cat girl down, but he paid for it when the shrieking leader beat him to a pulp and forced him to watch his wife being violated". They were tears coming from Angella and Glimmer, Bow was stunned silent and Castaspella was struggling to contain herself. A Moon Guard ran up to the officer and told her "ma'am, we have someone here you says they have important information", the queen demanded "bring them in". The order was carried out and 2 soldiers brought in the informant, Catra


	13. The Moon Shines Even Brighter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Catra is brought before Queen Angella and the Alliance comes up with a plan

There was near pandemonia when the guards brought in Catra, Queen Angella very angrily and very loudly ordered "GUARDS, SEIZE THAT MONSTER", the guards along with the squad leader went to put cuffs on Catra, who tried to struggle, but was hit by a capture spell cast by Castaspella. "BRING THAT HORDE FILTH HERE" ordered Angella, Catra was brought to Angella who addressed Catra "you dare come here after what you've done? You've helped in the elimination of thousands of lives with what you did to Adora, with how you fractured her mind". Catra was shocked "HOW I FRACTURED HER MIND? THAT'S A FUCKING JOKE CONSIDERING WHAT YOU DID TO HER", Angella responded "WATCH YOUR TONE, HORDE FILTH. Catra lightened her voice, but not her tone "do you really believe I would do that to Adora, are you so fucking dumb as to think that if I had known or had a choice I would have allowed that to happen to her?" Glimmer answered "the answer to that question is yes, you would", "fuck you, you pampered, entitled little sparkle, you know nothing" responded Catra with all the venom she could muster, "I came here to look for help for Adora, but I guess I screwed up there". Angella demanded to know, ignoring for the moment the insult to her daughter, "what do you mean?", Catra answered "I want my Adora back, not his thing she's become"

Castaspella was enraged "YOU WANT YOUR ADORA BACK? YOU HELPED HER TO BECOME THAT TWISTED MONSTER", "NO, I DID NOT", Catra defiantly cried out, "yes, I wanted her back with me, but not like this, not suffering the way she is", a tear started to form in one of Catra's eyes. "So why did you help Shadoweaver with that concuction?" asked Castaspella in a more calmer tone, "because I needed her, I needed her so bad, so bad that I would have done anything to get here back, I wanted the sweet person I feel in love with, not this shrieking mad thing she is now". Castaspella couldn't deny the truth of what Catra was saying, she had seen what happened at the Kingdom of the Snows, she had seen soulless rage in what was Adora in her rampage. Angella then asked "how does the spell work?", Catra answered "Shadoweaver coated my body with a dust that was half absorbed into my body, it was designed to affect Adora when I touched or breath near her, it was designed only to affect her". Castaspella then asked "did Adora, the real Adora ever truly have any feelings for you?, Catra was almost exasperated when she answered "of course she did, do you really think I would have done what I did out of the need for some company?", she went on "she still wants me, but it's not in an emotional way, more like she's a wild beast claiming it's mate". Catra started to cry, "she is no longer herself, please help" Angella answered in soft tone "we'll do everything we can for her". Castaspella then demanded to Catra "give out your arm, I want to take a sample", Catra answered "ok, sure, but I am not sure if there will be any dust left, it was designed to be only to be needed once", Castaspella looked at her "oh, there will still be trace amounts, just enough to study"

After Castaspella got the sample from her arm, Catra told them of the Hordes plan, "Shadoweaver is going to have Adora lead an assault on the kingdoms to take the Rune Stones, starting with Salinaes". "When are they going to attack?" Angella enquired, "I don't know, soon" Catra answered. Castaspella then said "then you will return to the Fright Zone, I will fit you with a device that will allow us to see and hear as you do", "er, wont they notice" it replied Catra, Castaspella smiled "don't worry they wont, but let me warn you, if you are lying to us or if you set us up then we will be conducting our own experiments like finding all the ways to skin a cat and seeing if cats always do land on their feet, do you understand me?" "yeah, yeah, I get you" replied Catra in a dismissive tone, before she headed back to the Fright Zone

Shadoweaver was annoyed when Catra came waltzing in to the hallway leading to her and Adora's chambers "you were missing when we were planing our strategy for tomorrow's attack on Salinaes". Catra knew that the attack would be soon, but this surprised her, "I was just taking a walk, it's not like you usually discuss strategy with me anyway" she replied, Shadoweaver darkly told Catra "don't get flippant with me, your responsible for Adora's safety and as such you should be there when discuss battle plans that involve her". "OK, OK, I get you" Catra said nervously, "you better and do not fail us" Shadoweaver demanded. The alliance leaders were watching this and were making plans to counter act the attack, but what they saw next disturbed them. Catra was grabbed by an posessive looking Adora "where have you been, I have been needing you" as he kissed Catra rather forcibly, this wasn't in the way that showed a healthy relationship, put almost like an animal obsessing over it's mate, like Catra had told them. The Adora they came to know was almost completely gone, replaced by a wild haired, dead eyed she-beast, tomorrow it truly would be now or never


	14. Institute

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Alliance manages to recapture Adora, but the problems are not over

The Moon Guard scouts watched the Horde procession towards Silinaes, the Sea Gate had prevented the Horde from using the sea as route of attack and forced them to use the land route. As far as the Horde was concerned Silinaes was now under populated and wouldn't need a large force to overcome it. The Horde was of course unaware that they were being watched, except for one, Catra, who had known that the Horde assault force was about to be ambushed. The assault force had just about reached the threshold of Silinaes when as if out of nowhere a large alliance force surrounded them, it had taken the powers of many Mystacor sorcerers to hide the alliance force. Many of the Horde simply surrendered, which enraged Adora, who flew out out of her transport and began to lift her sword. Bow had to be true with his aim as he he fired his flash arrow, aim wrong and it could hit Adora and not just stun her, but Bow even he was an annoying idiot at times was no idiot with his bow, he aimed it just right and Adora was stunned by a flash of light just long enough for Glimmer to teleport and take the sword from her. Perfuma cast out vines from the ground to entangle Adora and what remained of the assault force, the last thing Adora saw before gently made unconscious was Catra being taken by Moon Guards. It was a good ending for the mission, Adora recaptured without any casualties on either side

"LET ME OUT OF HERE, YOU WHORE" screamed Adora as she bounced off the force field to Angella, who turned to Castaspella and asked "how long before you can create an antidote? Castaspella answered "developing a cure should not take very long, but that's not the problem, the problem is that Adora's neural patterns have been altered to keep her in a near permanent feral state, we will need to administrate it in small doses over time" Angella enquired "why do we need to give it in doses?" Castaspella answered "because a massive change in her neural pathways could leave her in a vegetative state, we need to do this gradually". "HEY, WHORE, I AM SURE WHEN THE HORDE TEARS DOWN THIS DUMP AND FINDS THAT DAUGHTER OF YOURS THEY WILL TAKE HER, SO THEY CAN FUCK HER UNTIL SHE REALLY SPARKLES, MAYBE THAT WAY SHE'LL BE IN TOO MUCH ECTASY TO NOTICE HER WHORE OF A MOTHER SCREAMING IN SO MUCH AGONY THAT SHE'LL SHE BEG ME TO SLIT HER THROAT" threatened Adora from behind her cell and it went on "HEY, WHORE, I HEARD YOUR HUSBAND DIED LIKE A COWARD, CRYING LIKE A WELL FUCKED BITCH, WHAT WAS HIS NAME, MICAH, WAS IT? OR MAYBE THEY THREATENED HIM WITH BEING SENT BACK TO YOU AND HE STARTED BEGGING THEM TO END IT". Angella had enough

"YOU FLITHY CREATURE, HOW DARE YOU THREATEN MY DAUGHTER AND TARNISH MY HUSBAND'S MEMORY, YOU MURDERER" roared Angella in very uncharacteristical manner as tears streamed down her face. Adora lowered her voice, but not her insane ranting "tell me what happened to the ice brat? It was so cool when I made that little popsicle snap by making her take a seat, so cool, get it?" Adora laughed cruelly. Angella was by now shaking with rage and was about to express her rage when Castaspella stopped her, "no, Angella, that thing in there is not Adora, it hasn't been Adora for a while and that's not Adora speaking in there, but the vileness that has been poisoning her mind, you have to let go what she's saying or you'll destroy you both". Angella in a moment of calmness saw the wisdom in her sister in law's words and decided to leave the room before Adora or what was Adora could break her

Glimmer, who was waiting along with Bow asked her mother "what's happening with Adora, how is she?" Angella was agonised when she answered "she is in a bad way, she is gone totally insane, that poison Shadoweaver put in her has almost erased the Adora we knew and left us with a vile shell", Glimmer was saddened when she asked "will auntie be able to do anything for her?", Angella replied "she is doing what she can". Catra, along with 2 Moon Guards came up and said "please if she can't do anything for her, please put her down, don't let her suffer", Glimmer was shocked "put her down?, I thought you said you loved her, how can you say such a thing?", Catra replied with a mix of sadness and anger "it's because I do love her, that I rather have her being dead than being fully turned into that thing she has slowly being turned into", Catra, now in tears herself, turned to Angella "do not let what little is left of Adora be totally consumed by that poison, please I beg you, do not let this happen" Angella held both Glimmer and Catra as they cried thinking about Adora, they were shocked out of their sadness when they heard a loud scream coming from Adora from the room


	15. Dosage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first part of the cure is administrated

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, again, for the kudos

Angella ran back into the room to Adora curled up screaming in agony, she asked Castaspella "what's going on, what's wrong?", Castaspella answered "it's the first part of the antidote, her neural patterns were altered worse than we thought, the antidote will take longer to work". Angella was horrified by what she saw "please, does she have to be in so much pain? it looks like your killing her", Castaspella looked dejected "believe me, if we could be more gentle we would, but Shadoweaver's concuction has worked it's way deep, we need to slowly purge it". Angella asked "will all the doses be this painful for her?", Castaspella answered "the first ones, but it will gradually become less so". Adora let out another deafening scream, outside Catra, Bow and Glimmer tried to get in, but the Moon Guards halted them and Angella and Castaspella had errected a barrier to prevent teleportation. The screams from Adora continued until eventually the pain got too much and she lost consciousness, Castaspella quitely exhaled "it's over for now, but there is more to come". Angella slightly bowed her head in her left hand and wept in emotional torment

Angella met the anxious group outside, "what's going on, why is she screaming like that" demanded Glimmer with a fearful voice, Angella sorrowfully answered "Shadoweaver's spell got deep in her psyche and it will take time to dig it out". "How can anyone do this, how can they change a person so much that they become a mass murderer, what kind of evil does that?" demanded Bow, "was she aware of what she was doing? Bow continued to ask. "Aware, yes, but in control, no, the poison locked her brain in a constant feral state, keeping her in a constant loop of fear, bloodlust and rage coupled with a lack of impulse control and violent aggression, she would be like a rabid dog that could talk" answered Castaspella, she then clasped Catra on the shoulder and said to them "when this cure has finally purged the poison out of her, she will need you more than ever, especially, you Catra, she will need you to keep her steady when she finally realises the enormity of what she's done while under Shadoweaver's spell", they just nodded as they thought about how they would help her get through

"This is all my fault, what's happening to her is all my fault, if I hadn't been so jealous, she wouldn't now be in so much pain and most of those people would still be alive" bemoaned Catra, who sank to sitting with her head on her knees. Castaspella took pity on her "no, you may have been the one to initially to administrate that poison, but it was Shadoweaver who manipulated you using your loneliness to do so". Catra tried to be convinced by Castaspella's word, but just couldn't, "I helped turn her into something that even most of the Horde would turn their back on, she not only killed thousands, but performed such cruelty while she was not her true self", Castaspella replied "that is why we're doing what we are, to bring her back to her true self", Catra was still dispondant "then what? she will have what she did constantly torturing her, she will be no longer be able to go out in public, many will try to extract retribution, none will follow her, they won't understand that she wasn't in control of her actions". Castaspella could only sigh

The next came and Adora was given her second dosage, she was held by a restraining spell while an ointment, which would be absorbed into her body was rubbed into the base of her skull and below both ears. The absorbed ointment would travel through her nervous system directly into her brain, she was let go from the spell when the one administrating the antidote left her cell or rather a circular barrier in a Bright Moon chamber. The dosage still being an early one was again excruciating and she was once more screaming in total agony as the antidote worked through her system. The Mystacor sorcerers under Castaspella were in charge of her treatment, Angella asked Castaspella "will she be able to become She-Ra again after she's cured?", Castaspella answered with a smile "yes, the antidote will only purge Shadoweaver's spell nothing more, she will be back to what she was, relatively speaking". Angella knew exactly what relatively speaking meant and frowned at her friend as the screams continued


	16. Treatment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dosages continue and they are complications

The third day and thakfully the last of the initial dosages had arrived and it was also the last day of the constant screaming. Catra could hear the screams as she wept "you'll die for this, Shadoweaver" she bitterly said to herself in the room that was provided for her, she wanted desperately to go see Adora, but she was told during the initial treatment that would not be such a great idea as Adora being confused by her presence while on the initial treatment could set her back. It would be on the second course of the treatment that she could go see Adora and she was looking foward to seeing Adora again. She want to explain why she did what she did, but how could she? How could she explain to the one person that was the only person that ever truly cared for her, that she helped change that person into a heartless monster? Catra hoped that Adora would forgive her

Queen Angella had a lot to contemplate, she contemplated what she would do with Adora after she returned to normal, she couldn't execute her for it was not the Bright Moon way and it would not be justice, she couldn't keep her imprisoned for that would not be justice either considering she had no real control of her actions. She couldn't exactly let Adora go free as they would be many that would be trying to kill her and how long would it be before she was forced to kill again, this time for her own defence, what would the guilt do to her? If she was honest, she didn't know what she would do with Adora, but one thing was certain, the Horde would pay for all the slaughter, for all the humiliation, for the Kingdom of the Snows, for Plumeria, for Thaymor, for her husband and for Adora. Etheria had known great loss, thanks to the Horde for decades and it had almost worn her out, but no more, no more would the Horde take lives with impunity, no more would they bend others to their twisted will, no more would they wreck lives without consequence and no more would Etherian parents have to suffer the loss of another child, if she could help it

The second stage of Adora's treatment had began and while it was nowhere near as painful as the first stage, it did have it's complications, for the duration of the second stage, Adora had reverted mentally to the development of a 5 year old. Castaspella thought it best that she saw someone she knew from that period in her life, so Catra was asked to go see Adora. When Adora saw Catra, her eyes lit up "yayy, Catra, yayy" she shouted out in delight as Catra approached, "hiya, Catra, big hug", Catra humoured her by saying hi, Adora and responded by giving her a hug. Adora gave out happy giggles as she talked childishly to Catra, Catra was both extremely happy and miserable in seeing Adora in this state, happy that she was seeing her and miserable that she was seeing her in this state. Adora's joy was ended when Glimmer walked in and said "hi, Adora", Adora at this stage in her development was taught to fear and hate the princesses and responsided to Glimmer crying tears of panic and getting upset, "bad princess, bad, bad, mummy Shadoweaver said they take me away and do bad things, Catra, if we be with each other they no take us away". Catra signalled for Glimmer to leave, which Glimmer reluctantly obeyed

Angella and Castaspella had been watching the exchange between Glimmer and Adora and Castaspella was less than pleased, "mummy Shadoweaver? that thing is not fit to be called that" she seethed in anger. Angella herself was upset at Adora's description of her daughter "did you hear what Adora said when she saw my daughter? she was terrified", Castaspella replied "yes, they bring these children to despise us, what kind of sick mind brings up a child to hate?", "I don't know, but now that we know how the Horde gain some of their troop numbers we must do something to stop it" said Angella with determination. Castaspella agreed with the statement wholeheartly as they continued to listen to Adora and Catra. They heard Adora say "mummy Shadoweaver no treat you fair, Catra,, always treat you bad, but I look out for you, Catra". They could see a small tear form in one of Catra's eyes as they watched Catra and Adora, "the way they treat the children is abominable" said Angella, "they're not given a true childhood, they are trained as soldiers from the minute they can walk, the things I saw when I viewed Adora's memories through the Mind Projector were irredeemable" she continued. Castaspella vowed within herself that this menace would soon be wiped off the face of Etheria


	17. Holding Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last part of the treatment sees Adora agonise over what she did under Shadoweaver's spell

Adora slowly developed mentally throughout the course of the second part of her treatment, she became more lucid, more mature and more like her old self before Shadoweavers poison. She was able to see Glimmer without panicking about the bad princesses coming to take her away and now she was ready for the third and final part of her treatment. Although the physical pain was now, thankfully, gone, she would now have to face the psychological pain of the memories of what she did while under Shadoweaver's spell. But she would not have to face it alone, she would have her friends to help her, they would not stand by letting Shadoweaver win by having Adora mentally destroy herself. They would each be their for her when her memories came back to haunt her and they would guide her through this dark path and have her come through it with her sanity intact

Castaspella heard Adora weeping in her cell, "I smashed that poor little girl, I took everything away from her, I broke her body, her people and her home, I destroyed it all", Adora cried out guiltily, "I couldn't help myself , I just picked her up and threw her through that throne and I enjoyed it, I enjoyed hearing her little body break, I could practically her her spine snap and I laughed at her when her broken body rolled on to the floor, I couldn't help myself, I just couldn't help myself". Adora was sitting with her head bowed looking miserable, when Angella and Catra came in. They couldn't stand to see the miserable look on Adora with Angella telling Adora "none of that is your fault, if I hadn't use the Mind Projector to alter and erase some of your memories, then Shadoweavers spell wouldn't have worked so well because you would have had a real basis to counter the negative reactions her spell invoked in your resurfaced memories". Catra was next to talk to Adora "and if I hadn't been Shadoweaver's pawn and infected you with that dust that caused Shadoweaver's spell to affect you, you wouldn't be going through this, I am so sorry"

Adora was stunned "you 2 are the cause of all this, have you any idea what I went through?", Adora began to pace up and down in her cell, "you 2 bitches allowed Shadoweaver to nearly destroy my mind". Catra looked humble, not a usual look for her, when she spoke "I am so very sorry", Adora angrily asked "you're sorry, why did you do it?", Catra replied "because I missed you, I wanted you back with us in the Horde". Adora was enraged "you wanted me back in the Horde, what to be a good little soldier for Hordak?", Catra replied "No, because I loved you, I LOVE YOU, ADORA, CANT YOU UNDERSTAND, I did what I did because I needed you back with me". Adora roared "YOU LOVE ME? YOU DID THAT AND YOU SAY YOU LOVE ME?, she quieted her voice "you helped make me do all that horror, because you love me? I loved you too, I still love you, I will always love you and that is what makes all worse, I need you to get out". Catra tried to make amends, but Adora was not in the mood to listen anymore as she screamed "I SAID GET OUT, GET OUT, GET OUT", Catra left the room running while crying to herself

Adora then turned to Angella "and as for you, your paranoia, your need for control, your need to screw with my head was the reason Shadoweavers spell was able to keep me on emotional negative loop so bad that I had no hope of ever controlling my destructive impulses". Angella tried to reason "you were with the Horde, we couldn't just trust you", Adora with barely concealed contempt replied "maybe not, but that didn't give you the fucking right to have your goon squad tussle me into that fucking awful device, you know I have to really congratulate you, that's twice in under a year that I have had someone cause me to experience pain in my head so bad that I screamed for hours on end and wanting to fucking die, and both times times have involved you". Angella had no real counter to what Adora said, but she tried anyway "we stopped you at Salinaes and brought you in to be cured, so that we could have you and She-Ra back with us". That was it as far as Adora was concerned "oh, you are so fucking delusional, have me and She-Ra back? And tell me how are you going to present that one to the masses 'oh hello, we have someone back with us, you knew them as the Caster of Blood on the Snow, the Tormentor of Thaymor, a butcher that slaughtered entire families, watched with glee as her troops raped your wives and daughters, burned down your towns, took your children to be indoctrinated, now get ready to meet them up close and give them a warm welcome, the one and only Adora, who is also She-Ra". Angella's face just fell as she heard more from Adora "I will most likely have to be in hiding for the rest of my days, they will never trust me and She-Ra will now be nothing more than a face of terror, you try and introduce me to them and they'll roast your tits in a hot stove". Angella just had to leave as the truth of what Adora was saying left her unable to say anything


	18. Nearly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the final stage of Adora's treatment continues, Angella calls a meeting to debate Adora's future

Angella knew what Adora had said was essentially true, as much as hated to admit it and wish it wasn't true, she had to admit what Adora said was indeed correct. There was no way that Etheria's people were going to embrace Adora again, at least for quite a long time and she also knew that despite once again being her true self, the 'Despara' side of her personality would always be there waiting for a chance to emerge or have someone like Shadoweaver bring it out. The destruction that Adora caused while she forced to have the 'Despara' personality be her dominant self would forever affect her psyche and she would always have to be closely monitored lest 'Despara' emerges again. The only sure way to stop 'Despara' ever emerging again was to subject Adora to another mindwipe and considering the consequences of the last 2 that was totally out of the question

There was, however, another way to make sure that 'Despara' never emerged in Adora again, but not only was that out of the question, it was utterly unthinkable, Angella vowed that with her last breath 'Despara' would never again bring destruction to the people of Etheria ever again, but she would not resort to that. Angella along with Castaspella called the meeting inthe great hall, in attendance were the other princesses with the exception of the still injured Frosta, as well as Catra, Bow and Glimmer, Angella opened proceedings "we are here today to discuss what to do with Adora, we cannot, as you well know, let her roam free considering what she did under Shadoweaver's influence, but we neither can we keep her locked up as she was not in control of what she did and doing so would only play into Shadoweaver's hands, so I would like to hear your thoughts on the matter". Mermista was the first to speak "er, why not, you know like, keep her locked up, it's not like we can ever trust her again" she said in her usual casual drawl, Catra responded quite angrily to Mermista "because we'd be more able to trust her than depend on you to do anything, I've heard that on the very rare occasions that you manage to raise your left then your right arse cheek off that throne of yours they declare a public holiday in celebration". Mermista retaliated with "and maybe they'll celebrate even harder when I put a cat and a cat's paw in the nearest river", Catra hit back with "you're welcome to try, just be sure the strain of managing to move that arse of yours more than a few paces doesn't become too much of a strain for you", "ENOUGH" shouted out Castaspella before it went too far, what they had to discuss was far too important

When tempers had sufficiently cooled Spinnerella was the next to speak "as much I dislike to say it, but Mermista does have a point, Catra", Catra was about to make a rebuttal when Spinnerella held up her hands in a gesture of being allowed to explain before continuing "now I am not saying that we should keep her imprisoned, that would be grossly unfair when the one actually responsible is still free, but she did slaughter tens of thousands, albeit while not truly being in control of herself, but she still did and they are many calling out for her blood, it is still far too early for them to hear the truth of what really happened as for now they wont care, so I say that unless needed, Adora should be confined to the grounds of Bright Moon Castle or Mystacor and when needed to leave she should from now on be placed in a suit that conceals her identity, a suit that allows her to turn into She-Ra without any need to take off the suit". Perfuma asked "what about her sword?", Angella answered "it will be placed under the highest protection and given to her when needed". Entrapta couldn't help herself when she heard about the sword "oooohhh, it's First's Ones tech, can I study it?" she asked in an over excited voice, the look she got from the others gave her their answer, it was a definite no. Angella then asked "who agrees with Spinnerella proposal?", it was an overwhelming yes to the proposal with some like Mermista only fully agreeing with misgivings, Angella then declared "then it is settled, myself and Castaspella will tell her, she will be kept under constant watch by all of us here in this room, not only in case she descends back into her 'Despara' persona, but also to protect her from herself, from others that wish to extract revenge and from manipulations from the Horde". Angella then turned to Catra "if and when she wants to, you can stay with her in Bright Moon Castle, if you wish, but for now you'll have your own room", Catra gave a satisfied smile as Angella concluded the meeting. Catra was happy that Angella was allowing them to be together, now all that was needed was Adora to be agreeable to it and right now despite Adora still loving her it didn't for the moment seem likely, but Catra knew that Adora would eventually come round and that they would be together again without fearing Shadoweaver trying to seperate them with her threats and manipulations,. All that was needed was for Adora to want them to be together and for Glimmer and Bow to know when to stay away


	19. But Not Quite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angella and Castaspella tell Adora what is to happen to her

Angella went with Castaspella to tell Adora what had been decided about her future by the alliance, they approached Adora's cell and Angella was the first to speak to her, "Adora, once the last part of the treatment is complete, which should be in a few days you will be released from this cell, however they will be severe restrictions". Castaspella went on to outline these restrictions "yes, you will be restricted to Bright Moon Castle grounds or Mystacor when not on a sanctioned quest and when on such a quest you will be wearing a suit that totally conceals your identity, even as you turn into She-Ra and such changes can no longer be allowed to happen in front of anyone with the exception of myself, Angella, the Princesses, Sea Hawk, Catra and Bow". Angella gave the reason for the restrictions "even though you are not truly guilty of the terrible crimes you committed while under Shadoweavers spell, they are still a great many who wish to seek retribution against you and those who they would note to be with you, also the spell the Shadoweaver put you and what you did while under said spell will continue to affect your psychology and they will be those like Shadoweaver who will wish to exploit this should they able to find you and so therefore there will be even more restrictions on your freedom"

Adora was starting to wonder what type of freedom she would have, but she could acknowledge the wisdom in what Angella and Castaspella were saying to her, she knew their would be restrictions to her movements, that was to be expected, but she did expect them to be this restrictive. Castaspella went on to outline the further restrictions, "while not on a sanctioned quest, your sword will be placed under heavy guard and you will be tightly monitored, the reason for this being is that the 'Despara' side of your personality can never truly be erased and to keep it from ever emerging again you will be watched at all times". Castaspella went on to explain what would happen if 'Despara' was to emerge again, "should the 'Despara' personality ever emerge within you, you will be confined until such times as it is suppressed and if it cannot be surpressed you will be kept in stasis in Mystacor until a solution can be found". Adora had to ask "how long will they restrictions last for?", Angella answered "probably for at least the next 10 or 20 years or even longer". Adora was almost beside herself, "I more or less get my life turned upside down while the bitch or should I say bitches truly responsible for it more or less came off unscathed", she was looking towards Angella when she said that

Castaspella then informed her of what would happen to the 2 women responsible for her dilemma, "Shadoweaver will be hunted down and brought in to answer for her crimes and as for Angella, she will be placed under sanctions. Adora was somewhat pleased with this, her life might be restricted, but the ones who caused this to happen would not get away so easily. This caused Adora to be able to halt some of the torment within herself, she did not wish, truly for anything to happen to Angella, but she was glad that Angella was remoseful for what she did. Angella had a surprise for Adora, "if you wish you can have Catra stay with you, she is quite willing to do so, if you want her with you". This is what Adora truly wanted, but they were still issues to discuss between them, she asked Angella, "can I speak to Catra, alone please?" Angella answered "of course, we will bring Catra to you, so you may talk with each other of how you wish to proceed with your relationship", with that Catra was asked to be brought in and Angella and Castaspella left them alone

Catra gingerly approached Adora's cell and said in an unsure voice "hi, Adora", Adora gave her a warm smile and replied "hello, Catra, we have much we need to discuss and for once I need you to listen to all that I have to say to you without interruption, Okay? Catra just gave a nervous nod while Adora began, "Catra, I cannot fully forgive you, yet, for your part in my transformation into 'Despara', but I am willing to overlook it, because I also know that Shadoweaver coerced you into it and I know what she can do to people who do to people that don't follow her orders and I know that you agreed to it because you wanted me back with you". Adora paused before going on, "but more important than that, the true reason I am willing to over look what you did is that I want you, Catra, I need you, Catra, hell, I love you Catra, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, if you would have me". Catra gave tearful smile and simply said "yes, I do want to be with you, I have always wanted to be with you, beside you wherever you are, you mean the world to me, you always have". They each put their foreheads close to each other, or as close as the cell's barrier would allow them and they laughed happily with tears in their eyes looking at each other. The next few days passed and Adora was let out of her cell and went to live with Catra in Bright Moon Castle, they would be more trials ahead, there would be Shadoweaver, there would be the restrictions that Adora would have to face and there would be 'Despara' waiting in the background to come out, but as long as they had each other they could face these challenges together. She was She-Ra, she was also 'Despara', but more importantly she was Adora and for now the queen's court had been adjourned


End file.
